Silver Lining
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: They always fought. Always bickered. But they never meant to hurt their best friends. Or go that one step too far. But at least they found their silver lining...a resolution.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes**

Another three-shot. I've actually had this story planned for ages, as well the first few paragraphs written, so I just thought I'd finish it.

This is actually based on a true story, just things are changed slightly as to respect the anonymity of the people involved, as well as to set it into context with Digimon Frontier, and is written in honour of a friendship between two people that now still stands strong after we reached a compromise after all our disagreements, and of course the person stuck between us and the other friends affected with our conflicts.

BTW, this is written in Kouichi's point of view. Though it is the first time (in my frontier based stories) he's not one of the main characters. He's sort of an outsider looking in.

In terms of couples, there is a bit of Takumi (Takuya and Izumi) and I suppose you could interpret it as one-sided Kouzumi (Kouji and Izumi) as well, but not necessarily. That just depends on how you interpret it.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Digimon.

* * *

**Silver Lining**

They always fought. Always bickered. But they never meant to hurt their best friends. Or go that one step too far. But at least they found their silver lining...a resolution.

Kouji M & Takuya K

Genre: Drama/Friendship

Rating: T

* * *

**Chapter 1**

It was Saturday, and so we took advantage of the beautiful weather and the afternoon free from school to meet up at Shibuya Park, 'we' of course being the ex-legendary warriors; Kanbara Takuya, Minamoto Kouji, Himi Tomoki, Orimoto Izumi, Shibiyama Junpei and me, Kimura Kouichi.

Takuya and Kouji were already waiting under the Sakura tree we had unofficially claimed as our meeting spot when I arrived, their school only being a few blocks away. The rest of us went to schools further away; in fact, my school was clear in another district, in Shinjuku, and that usually resulted in me arriving last for our monthly get-togethers.

Though I was only slightly surprised to find the other three currently absent. 'Ohayou Takuya-san, Kouji-' I greeted, hurriedly cutting myself off before I added the suffix onto my brother's name from force of habit; God knows how many times he has told me not to.

Come to think of it...

'Kouichi,' Takuya chided me, shaking his head. 'How many times have I told you to knock off the suffix?'

I shrugged a bit helplessly, and the brunette turned back to my brother as I took a seat under the shade of the branches. I listened for a moment, but soon enough, the conversation shifted to a mild argument, and I tuned out their raised voices.

Takuya and Kouji...it was remarkable how the two had managed to stay the best of friends after all their disagreements. Their personalities were, and still are, largely contrasting, but at that point, neither were willing to compromise when a difference in opinion arouse, and as a result, many full blown arguments stemmed from small disagreements which could have easily been resolved without all the dramatics.

And a few minutes later, it would be as if they had not disagreed at all.

I think, out of the six of us, it is those two who share the closest bond. The others most likely disagree, but the bond between light and darkness is incomparable to the others; it was fashioned at birth after all, unbroken, although perhaps stretched, despite how much hostility, enmity or even friendship exist between us. It is not a bond fashioned by the trials and tribulations of friendship.

Fire and light...the two elements had a rather interesting relationship. Fire was a source of light, the flames glowing with predominantly a mix of red, orange and yellow like a beacon that attracts those seeking a path of light. But light too could give fire; shining rays through clear glass at the right angle directed to something flammable, like dry grass or flakes of paper could start a fire.

Light and darkness are opposites, and yet they go hand in hand. Same with fire and light, but their relationship is slightly different. While Kouji and I balance each other out. Takuya and Kouji continuously push each other past their natural limitations. Now, most of the time, that's a good thing...but not always.

Especially when they argued because of it.

Like they were doing now.

'Like you could do better, bandana-boy.'

'At least I didn't mess up like you.'

'That's because you haven't even tried.'

A pause.

'What's the matter? Chicken?'

'Idiot.'

I sighed. Having missed the first part of the conversation, I had no idea what they were arguing about. Their voices were rising again, and I blotted them out to the best of my ability, trying to stem the migraine I felt coming on.

I guess I had done a pretty good job, because I suddenly jumped at a hand descending on my shoulder. My eyes flew open and a startled gasp escaped my lips as I found Junpei's face inches from my own. I felt my cheeks heat up and I jerked back slightly at the close proximity; an average reaction, it was rather uncomfortable having someone in your face when zoning back in.

He smiled at me apologetically, albeit it was slightly strained, and I returned it, standing up as the elder boy straightened from his crouch and Izumi and Tomoki joined us. No words were exchanged as we turned back to Takuya and Kouji, so immersed in their bickering that they were yet to acknowledge, or even, realise the arrival of the other four.

We waited silently for a few minutes, the embarrassed blush fading away and waiting for the argument to cease as it normally did. And surely enough, Takuya turned eventually and noticed the late additions, his squabble with Kouji instantly forgotten.

'Hey guys,' he called, forgoing the more traditional Japanese for English slang. Both languages were taught at school, so we of course had no trouble understanding him, though the heavy accent may make it harder for those who were naturally English speaking. 'You're late,' he continued, slightly accusing.

'Gomen,' Izumi muttered, eyeing me out of the corner of her eyes, making it clear to anyone watching that the apology had been aimed at me alone. I nodded in her direction, then she turned away, pointedly avoiding eye contact with Kouji as he came over to stand by my side. I guess she was reaching the limit of her patience with those two. I assumed Junpei and Tomoki were as well, what with Junpei's increasing 'academic' responsibilities and Tomoki having to hurry home more often than not, though that could have had more to do with his brother's engagement. I knew I was reaching the end of my own patience as well, but I could not get away with an excuse, unfortunately, as I wound up being dragged along by Kouji in the end anyway.

Though I get to at least partially pay him back by letting 'Kaa-san drag him shopping.

Marginally...as she isn't quite as bad as most girls when it comes to that.

The tense silence was growing, though surprisingly, both Takuya and Kouji were oblivious to it.

'Can we just go already?' Izumi snapped suddenly, as Kouji opened his mouth, presumably to pick up the previously abandoned conversation with Takuya, seizing Tomoki's wrist and dragging the boy off in a random direction, Junpei hurriedly following after.

Izumi was more tense than usual, and I wondered whether she had been more directly involved in this particular argument; her body language was certainly validating that assumption. I wasn't, however, given sufficient time to dwell on that before Kouji was calling me to hurry up, before hurrying himself to catch up with his rival.

I hurried, all the while wondering how much this particular string of elastic could stretch before it snapped.

* * *

Everything managed to fall back into its original pattern by lunch, though there was still a sense of underlining tension. As per usual, we spread ourselves out on the lush grass, bento boxes open on our laps, talking about rather general things. Or rather, the others talked while I listened; I was more of a listener.

The discussion turned, inevitably, to the topic of the Digital World.

'It's so hard to believe that it's already been a year,' Izumi mused, almost wistfully, the earlier tension almost forgotten. Key word: almost. 'I hope we see them again. The spirits, the three Angels, Bokomon and Neemon...'

'I am Neemon, keeper of my pants!' Tomoki laughed, remembering he anticas of the tag-along digimon, provoking laughter from the rest of us as well. For a moment, that's all we did: laugh, letting go of any worries and tensions that plagued us. But as always, the laughter would have to stop, and the veil of reality would have to descend upon us once more.

'Remember when we were on the moon?' Junpei asked, once the laughter died down.

We all nodded, indicating for him to continue.

'That was like one of the few times where we didn't have to fight for our lives, or somebody else's...' Izumi sighed, letting her voice trail off, before a playful smirk graced her face. 'Remember all the crazy stuff we done to get off?'

Tomoki laughed at the memory. 'Like making a giant slingshot? And how Junpei loaded Takuya into his cannon and tried to blast him into space?'

We, except the two addressed, burst into another fit of laughter at the memory of Agnimon's indignation after the first failed attempt.

'Come on,' Junpei cried. 'You guys didn't even give it a chance.'

'It wouldn't have worked,' I said softly, surprising even myself with the assertion, but continuing anyway. 'You're calculations were wrong.'

Five heads snapped towards me and I felt my face heat up again at the attention.

'Huh?' Junpei blinked. 'What was wrong with them?'

I looked down, a bit embarrassed, and mumbled my answer. 'You didn't account for the amount of force your cannon exhibits.' The power behind it wouldn't have been strong enough alone. You needed a secondary source of power.'

'And you didn't mention this before...why?' he asked.

My face got hotter and I didn't answer. Thankfully, Izumi noticed and diverted the conversation. Unfortunately, she unintentionally sent it into dangerous waters.

'Remember all the crazy stuff that we did?' she said out of the blue. Had she thought it through a little more, I doubt she would have said what she did next. 'Like Takuya and those Candlemon?'

'Hey!' Takuya protested, sitting upright. 'How was I supposed to know that wouldn't work? And it's not like you guys had spirits then.'

'Lucky I found mine,' Tomoki mused happily, content with his memories of Chakkmon.

I personally was more than a little confused, and it didn't seem like Kouji was faring much better. 'When was this?' he asked, voicing both our confusions.

'About after he pushed you into that hole.' Junpei replied.

Hole? When was this?

'You mean that never-ending one in which I found my spirit?'

'Yep.'

He sighed. 'Takuya, you should have known better than to try lighting a candle with a flame.'

'You weren't even there,' he shot back. 'So don't talk like you know everything.'

Uh-oh. Izumi and Junpei exchanged glances, Tomoki own green orbs flickering between them. Izumi for one looked like she regretted bringing the topic up.

Though I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later. And if it wasn't one thing, it would have been another.

'Like you forgot to put on the brakes when tearing around as Garrmon?'

I looked up, realising that I once again had managed to blot out a part of the conversation/argument.

Funny, how sometimes it happens unintentionally, and naturally, while at other times, despite one's best efforts, they are forced to endure.

I guess this was one of those lucky times.

'You couldn't control your own beast-spirit better,' Kouji shot back, irritated by the blow to his pride. 'Attacking your own friends...'

I winced. That was one particular story I heard once, and never wanted to hear again. It reminded me too much of-well, you know.

But to be fair, that was a seriously low blow on Kouji's part. So I couldn't blame him for retaliating in a split second blinded by a rash anger which quickly dispersed once the realisation of what he said dawned on him.

'I wasn't the only one you know,' he raged. 'What about Dus-'

I flinched at the half-finished reminder, and Takuya immediately cut himself off. He told me later that the others nearly bore holes through him with their glares, and that he, for one, was extremely grateful that looks could not kill, else he would have died ten times over in those few seconds of silence that passed. Though of course with my head down, I did not notice at the time.

'I'm sorry,' Takuya muttered eventually. 'I didn't mean-'

I waved my hand in reply. 'Don't worry,' I said, forcing a smile on my face. 'You got angry and carried away. It happens.'

I could see Kouji examining me out of the corner of my eye. Sometimes, it's not always the best thing having a twin who could read you like a children's comic book, but times like this always made me wonder how he could be so perceptive when it came to some people and yet so blind when it came to others.

They both brought up valid points, they always did, but the past was past; there was no use dwelling over old mistakes.

But they always seemed to blow such miniscule things out of proportion.

The silence that followed was awkward, and extremely tense, to say the least, so much so that everybody was shifting discreetly, yet restlessly, for a diversion. Takuya, being the one least capable of sitting still in silence, eventually broke it, in his usual boisterous way, although I could still hear a slight trace of guilt beneath it.

'Hey! Let's play-'

'No!' we, save Kouji and of course, Takuya, hurriedly exclaimed. Any sort of friendly competition between those two in this sort of tension would no doubt escalate. And nobody was in the mood to deal with it, save perhaps the two involved.

Another awkward silence followed, quickly followed by Tomoki stammering something about having to go home and heading there soon after.

Izumi and Junpei stood too, the latter saying he had to return to his assignments while the former's words were lost to me before the two headed in separate directions.

Kouji and Takuya stood too, and I followed suit, a bit uneasily, watching the other three members of our group hurry out of sight.

'I guess we'd better head home too,' Kouji sighed, turning to me.

I shrugged, before following him as he crossed the path after bidding Takuya a farewell as he ran off in the opposite direction.

The meeting ended on an awkward note, and that was a serious understatement.

* * *

'They left rather hurriedly, didn't they?' Kouji commented as we walked the path to his house. I was staying over the night, as we normally alternated weekends; one weekend, I'd sleep over at his house, while the following weekend, he'd sleep over at mine. Our parents were fine with it; in fact, they suggested it in the first place. I got the feeling Okaa-san and Otou-san felt guilty about keeping us apart and secret to one another.

'Yeah...' I mumbled in reply. _Oh Kouji, how can you be so blind to this?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes:**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own digimon.

Nothing else to say, so enjoy.

* * *

**Silver Lining**

They always fought. Always bickered. But they never meant to hurt their best friends. Or go that one step too far. But at least they found their silver lining...a resolution.

Kouji M & Takuya K

Genre: Drama/Friendship

Rating: T

* * *

**Chapter 2**

It was a long, awkward walk, till we eventually arrived at Kouji's house. I say eventually mainly because the time seemed to drag in the ill comforted atmosphere, and it was beyond me how Kouji remained oblivious to it, especially as he is normally observant, unless it involved confliction between him and Takuya.

After all, that was only part of my discomfort. The other part, the larger one I think, was that his parents...well, our parents, were at home. And while Satomi and I get along all right, Otou-san is another matter. I never felt comfortable around him, and I think the whole Duskmon issue had a major role to play in all that. I mean, how do you face someone you unjustly hated enough to kill for? How do you tell someone you wanted them dead?

Even with Kouji and I, there's still that barrier, but we've pushed it back far enough so that it doesn't interfere with anything. As long as neither of us bring it up, it's fine.

But that's all beside the point. All it really meant was things were rather awkward at Kouji's when I slept over.

And this particular weekend was no different.

After all, we didn't take the first step to dissolve that barrier till awhile later.

It's funny; even when I'm trying to give an objective recount, I wind up being biased. But I suppose that just human nature, to be prejudiced based on past experiences and beliefs.

...not to mention I wind up daydreaming as usual.

'Hey, Kouichi?' my brother asks me once my mind had wandered off again.

'Yeah?'

'Are you going to just stand there or come inside?'

I blinked, before I felt my cheeks heat up slightly. We had been standing at the gate for about five minutes, staring, or rather I was staring, at the metal plate where the family name was engraved.

'Sorry,' I muttered, and we headed inside.

* * *

Later, as we were upstairs before bed, we eventually managed to get back onto the topic of Kouji and Takuya's relationship.

It all started with Kouji playing his music on full blast and working on something while I simply sat on his bed with my head in his hands. Personally, I didn't like it, but I kept my silence. It wasn't worth arguing over.

Now it's true that twins, monozygotic twins, are made up of the same DNA, but that similarity only stretches as far as physical appearance, and even then, noticeable differences can be observed. Like the tone of our hear, his being a shade darker than mine, or even our eyes, even though being the same colour, telling different stories.

Our personalities on the other hand are pretty much polar opposites. Maybe because of the different environments we were brought up in. Or perhaps because we're light and darkness. Polar opposites.

Our likes and dislikes differed greatly too; he likes music, I prefer drawing, he likes TV, especially action, I rather curl up in a _quiet_ corner (emphasis on the word quiet) with some books, normally those of mystery or science fiction genre, He prefers science, I prefer humanities...sometimes unintentionally switching in the middle of a sentence and confusing people. It happens when the languages are polar opposites, or not in any way related.

Despite that, we tolerate it...normally. Which is why I never really understood why Kouji and Takuya could not tolerate their differences, which, while compared to the two of us, wasn't too much at all. After all, for the most part, they shared their hobbies, and the differences in terms of decision making could easily be compromised with a collaborated effort.

But stubbornness was unfortunately one trait they shared.

The music suddenly switched off, rather unexpectedly, so that the sudden silence was ringing in my ears till they adjusted and the ringing faded away. I raised my head slightly, only to find myself being stared down by Kouji. Which is definitely not a comfortable position to find oneself in, despite who was on either end.

'You should have said something.' Kouji's voice rang with a slightly accusing tone.

'Gomen,' I muttered, flinching slightly at his tone.

I supposed he noticed, as his voice immediately softened at his next words as he took a seat beside me.

'You keep too much inside Ni-san,' he said quietly, putting an arm around my shoulders. 'Would it hurt to speak out once in a while?'

'It could,' I responded, just as softly. 'When two people are stubborn, someone always gets hurt in the end.'

We both knew what I was talking about.

I turned slightly in his grip to face him. 'Would it hurt to compromise?' I asked, looking at him straight in the eyes.

He removed his arm and stood up, going back to his desk and packing up. 'Let's go to bed now.'

I could tell he didn't really know how to answer that, so I let it go. For the time being.

'Hai.'

I lifted the covers and snuggled into the sheets, resting my head on one pillow and leaving enough bed space and the other pillow for my brother.

I could still hear him bustling around as I closed my eyes and settled down to sleep. 'Onami-wa,' I murmured.

If he replied, it was too soft for me to hear.

* * *

Do you ever get that feeling that while all your senses are shut off, you can't fall asleep? That even when you are unable to move in any way, your heart beat pounds in your ears while your conscience makes its presence blaringly obvious?

Well, that was what I was feeling now.

It always takes me awhile to fall asleep, probably because I'm the warrior of darkness, even when I'm too exhausted to stay awake. And since the digital world, it's worse because of the demons that plague my sleep.

But that wasn't what was keeping me awake this time. It's like, I don't know, a sense of restlessness, that something was going to happen, though I was so sure I was being irrational.

Tomorrow was the first year anniversary of our trip to the Digital World. Or their trip really; I had never truly been there. I supposed it was just the fall and near death experience which kept me from rest that night, the possibility of history repeating itself...

...funnily enough, it turned out I hadn't been too far off.

Even if I got barely a wink of sleep that night.

My body was frozen in a state of inactiveness, but my mind was hyped up.

And so with nothing else to do as sleep refused to grant me a reprieve, I wound up thinking once more about the bond between Kouji and Takuya.

Light and flame, they pushed each other past their natural limitations. Together, they could transgress bounds which most would not expect, though we had hoped, and maintained faith that they could. They, who in combining their strengths, led while the others followed willingly. They, who helped each other grow.

That's not to say no-one else played any part in all of that, but if Kouji hadn't gotten hurt, by my own hand, Takuya may never have learned the responsibility that came with power, and if Takuya hadn't been so adamant in reaching out, Kouji may never have defrosted his rather frosty attitude.

The others say it was only when I joined the group did Kouji really open up, and that may be true; after all, I'm not exactly in a position to be arguing about that. However, it was Takuya who had kick-started the first step, who made him begin opening up which I in the end simply sped up, like a catalyst.

Anyway, they help each other grow, but in the same time, due to their stubbornness and certain explicit differences, they hindered each other. I guess it's natural for them to fight, I mean we've all had our differences at one point or another, but those two just had a habit of going over the top.

Everybody was so uptight too, save those two. And with the anniversary tomorrow...I just hoped nothing ruined it.

Though I guess I should have known that hope would be in vain.

I mean, those two couldn't go without at least one fight a day then, could they?

* * *

I wasn't exactly the easiest person to wake in the morning, even when I wasn't properly asleep, probably coupled with my restlessness before sleep. Kouji was the other way around, quick to sleep, quick to awaken.

Which is why it took so long before my foggy brain managed to interpret the fact that someone was shaking me.

'Nnrgh,' I groaned, blearily opening my eyes, seeing the fuzzy image of my brother hovering over me. 'What is it?'

'Izumi's on the phone for you.' Kouji, on the other hand, was wearing a rather odd expression, which I could tell even with my senses attempting to realign themselves into some sort of functional order.

'Couldn't you have told her I was asleep?'

'She would have killed me if I said anything.'

I raised an eyebrow at that, in the process of rubbing sleep from my eyes and maintaining enough consciousness to carry on a decent conversation and stifled a giggle behind a hand. It was rather funny though, my fearless twin brother scared of a girl's wrath. Though admittedly Izumi is pretty scary when she's mad.

'True 'touto-san.'

He groaned at that. Initially, I had thought he was groaning because of the 'little brother' nickname, though his next question nullified that.

'Are you ever going to knock off the suffix?'

'Eventually.'

He simply rolled his eyes and passed me the phone (cordless by the way).

'Ohayou Izumi-san,' I said into the receiver, pushing the covers of my body and sitting up as Kouji left.

_'Ohayou,'_ she replied, sounding rather normal all things considered. I assumed it was Kouji (and Takuya) whom she was mad at. 'And are you ever going to stop attaching suffixes to our names?'

'Eventually,' I sighed, having just answered that question literally less than a minute ago. 'Habitual.'

'_I guess that would be the case.'_ Out of the others, Izumi understood that best, having had her own hard time adapting to Japanese customs when she had moved back to Japan from Italy. _'You could call me Izumi-chan,'_ she added as an afterthought.

'And get mauled by school's boy population? No thanks.' Funnily enough, I was far more talkative on the phone, or on paper for that matter, than I was talking to someone directly.

_'So true,'_ she laughed.

'So...'

_'So...'_

'...any particular reason you want to kill my brother?' I asked suddenly.

_'The latest drama,'_ she sighed. Then very fast, _'Takuyaaskedmeoutonadate.'_

'Slower?' I asked eventually, after failing to decipher that.

I could hear her take a deep breath on the other end. _'Takuya asked me out on a date.'_

'Oh? That doesn't explain why you want to kill my brother.'

_'Because-'_

'Because he by no means has any feelings for you besides friendship.'

_'Huh? He doesn't?'_ She sounded genuinely surprised, but I couldn't blame her.

'No,' I affirmed.

_'Then why does he-'_

'So he can drive Takuya-kun up the wall.'

A pause as she processed that.

_'Takuya's going to be telling you any second now to knock off the suffix.'_

The doorbell rang downstairs before I could answer.

'You had to say that, didn't you?'

_'Why?'_

'Because I think Takuya's at the door.' I leaned against the wall, sitting cross-legged on the bed, as it didn't look as though this conversation would be letting up soon.

_'What made you say that?'_

'Who else comes over at eleven on a Sunday?'

_'Point.'_

There was a comfortable silence for awhile, in which I heard Kouji answer the front door, and Takuya's voice soon reply, proving my assumption correct.

_'Hang on a sec,'_ Izumi said suddenly. _'If you knew, why did you ask?'_

'Knew what?'

_'Knew Takuya asked me out.'_ She said that in a funny away, as if she was still in partial disbelief.

'I didn't,' I replied honestly. 'Though I did know he had a crush on you.'

_'You could have warned me.'_

'It wasn't my place to tell. By the way, what did you say?'

_'...uhh...no?'_ She made it sound more like a question than an answer.

'Would you?'

She paused. _'I don't know,'_ she replied eventually. _'I don't want to compromise our friendship any more than it has already been, but-'_

'You like him.'

_'Yeah-I mean maybe, or-wait a sec!'_ I laughed at her indecision, trying rather unsuccessfully to stifle it. _'Kouichi!'_

'Gomen.' I coughed once, getting the laughter out of my system.

We talked a bit more after that, mostly Izumi recounting every recalled instant where Takuya and Kouji had fought and their reasons, most of which could have easily been avoided, with me simply affirming my attention or adding little titbits here and there when the need arose. For a moment I wondered what had brought on the conversation, as although we were close, it was rather unlike us to have such a lengthy conversation.

Something about the way Izumi talked made me think I wasn't the only one concerned about today. She talked slightly faster then she normally did, and while she wasn't exactly uncomfortable, she still sounded slightly nervous, especially as we were about to hang up as the two downstairs yelled at me to hurry up.

_'We're meeting in the basement of Shibuya Station at twelve?'_ she checked.

I affirmed, causing her to ask another question. _'You going with Takuya and Kouji?'_

'Yeah...' I sighed.

_'It's too much, the fighting.'_

'Yeah, it is.'

_'I'm just afraid someone's going to get hurt soon. For real.'_

I was too. Only I hadn't realised that person was going to be me.

* * *

'Naruto's way better!'

'No, Sasuke is!'

Three guesses what was going on, and the first two don't count.

Unfortunately, the two arguing were just as much rivals as the two they were arguing about.

The three of us were walking through the train station, weaving through the crowd of people while trying to make our way to the elevator, while Kouji and Takuya continued their 'discussion' as to which character was better.

'Um...guys?'

The two looked at me. 'Yeah?' they asked at the same time, instantly forgetting their little disagreement. Well, temporarily anyway.

'The elevator's out of order,' I said, pointing to the notice attached to the doors.

Two simultaneous groans, then Takuya banged his head against the control panel. 'Well, damn,' he muttered.

'Try to save what brain cells you have google-head,' Kouji muttered in reply, rolling his eyes and weaving through the crowd towards the stairs. The same ones I had fallen down last year, not that I could see that with the sheer number of people separating us.

Takuya followed, shooting some reply which I failed to hear as I slipped between people in an attempt to follow them. Unfortunately, with the crowd, I wound up losing them, only finding them again once another argument was well underway.

In fact, the only reason I had found them again was because of Takuya's rather indignant shout, though I had not been able to make out what he had said.

My brother obviously had, and seeing the resulting expression on his face, I immediately wondered exactly what Takuya had said to invite a deeper anger than the usual on the surface taunts they normally exchanged.

Another trait the two shared, they were both quick to anger, and after exhausting physical taunts, they were rather in the habit of resorting to physical assertion.

And they were both good at it too. After, Kouji practiced Kendo, Judo and a few other martial arts whose names I can't remember off the top of my head, while Takuya plays for the district's soccer team, with basketball being a close second favourite for him. So naturally, they wound up being quite even in strength, even with all the practice they obtained in the digital world, though they had never actually resorted to hitting one another for all the disagreements they had gotten into.

And I wasn't too sure about Takuya, but I knew that one of Kouji's punches packed enough force behind it to break someone's nose, and perhaps a few other bones as well.

Which is why I found myself moving even before I realised it as soon as I saw him raise a clenched fist.

For a precious moment, the crowd parted, and I could see the stairs, the same ones I had fallen down the previous year...where I had almost died.

For a moment, those memories flashed in my head. The blinding pain in my skill, my brother's name falling from my lips, then the darkness of the digital world, and Cherubimon, Duskmon, then Lucemon...

But then I saw the fist lunge as in slow motion, and I was moving again. However, the brief pause had thrown me off balance, and having been forced to dive slightly to cover the distance between us, I managed to slip in front of Takuya just enough so that the punch didn't hit him.

I suppose seeing them so close to the stairs had made me panic; had Kouji's punch hit, and had Takuya stumbled even the slightest bit to the side, he would have fallen as I had the previous year.

Experiencing something once leaves a partially irrational fear in a person, and this case was no different. I had already fallen once, and the thought of seeing someone fall the same way was terrifying. However, when I had intercepted the punch, I had failed to consider the consequence of falling again myself.

Or at least until I felt my foot slip off the top stair as the punch hit, even as Kouji tried to pull back at the last minute. I looked up, and for a moment, I met his eyes, blue and widened in fear greater than what I myself felt at that moment...

...and the next second, the solid ground vanished and I was falling.

Pain flashed through me then, too much so for me to be able to pinpoint its origin, and my vision blurred even as I felt hands seize me and stop my downward descent. I could hear voices, melding like a ferocious storm, though not nearly as dangerous; more than two that I recognised, which meant the others were here too, though the sound grew gradually indistinct, as did the pain.

I saw a pair of blue eyes hovering over me, accompanied by a pair of brown. For a moment, all I could see was the expressions they held, so identical yet so rarely seen on them, that I could have sworn I was seeing only one pair, a colour between the two.

But it was a sight so welcoming that I felt the corners of my mouth twitch into a small smile before my vision faded into darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes**

Here's the last chapter. Enjoy, and thank you to everyone who's read this fic, as well as anyone who reads this later. You guys keep me going. And giving me inspiration too.

Just an explanation for a statement I (via Kouichi) make later on, I made Kouichi's birthday on the 17th of April, while Kouji's is on the 18th while they're only two minutes apart. The explanation is that Kouichi is born one minute to midnight on the 17th while Kouji is born one minute past midnight, making him two minutes younger and his birthday on the 18th. That also makes the two older than both Takuya and Izumi, as well as Tomoki. And don't ask me why, I just felt like doing that.

BTW, did anyone manage to pick up the Darker than Black reference in this chapter?

**Disclaimer**: If I owned Digimon, my grade average wouldn't be higher than my amount of sleep, as Kilarra pointed out. Or the grade average I'm aiming for in any case.

Anyway, read and enjoy the last chapter of **Silver Lining**. And my apologies if it's not up to scratch. I've been sick for 'bout a week, and unfortunately still am. Though it was rather funny when everyone at school thought I was on my deathbed when I went home early on Thursday...but enough about me. Enjoy this final installment.

* * *

**Silver Lining**

They always fought. Always bickered. But they never meant to hurt their best friends. Or go that one step too far. But at least they found their silver lining...a resolution.

Kouji M & Takuya K

Genre: Drama/Friendship

Rating: T

* * *

**Chapter 3**

I was somewhere, but I didn't know where. I couldn't; it was the kind of place shrouded and protected by the mysteries that encased, that only became known when knowledge of it could not go past the boundaries unable to be transcended.

My memory is blurred, only scarce images and emotions were retained. I remembered darkness, light, and the fire that burned brighter which each passing moment and inflamed the light with its own power, burning away the darkness, then bringing it back even as the two contrasting forces came together in coexistence, just like they had with the battle with Lucemon.

Wind, lightning, ice...and the other elements too, in the equality they existed. Like the web of life as I always called it, the forces of nature had been balanced before it could break entirely.

I once said that fire and light when hand in hand. And what I remember of this, my second coma, validated that. Some people say I'm empathic, and maybe I am. I don't know. But either way, I am sensitive to others emotions, so I could feel the confliction of emotions in our group, even when we were apart, and before, I could easily feel the strain when Takuya and Kouji fought.

But now I could not.

We were a team; for all thoughts and purposes save blood, we were a family, closer than most people ever got in a lifetime.

Interconnected, as all else is, and the bonds between us were stronger than ever. After, the elastic band had strengthened on the rebound.

I can't be sure how long it was, it felt like eons passing like a millisecond, though Takuya did mention it was a week and a half. Not that I don't believe him; it just didn't feel like that, especially as exhausted as I was when sound became audible for me again.

Light shone through my eyelids, and I groaned slightly, struggling to shift away from it even as pain shot through my skull.

Silence.

Another gasp escaped me as the pain registered in my mind, which still felt the need for sleep though I was sure I had been sleeping. Or rather, I had been sure.

'Kouichi!' I heard five voices cry out at the same time, which mind you, for someone whose head is pounding, is not a good thing at all. Despite the relief they obviously felt, it just made my head hurt more.

Though the insistency in their joint tone led me to force my eyes open, squinting against the glare of the afternoon light reflecting off the walls.

It took me awhile to register why the scene seemed so...odd. After all, the last thing I remember was being at the station, the floor rushing up to-I cut off that train of thought. My head and heart both began pounding rather rapidly at the memory. They still do as a matter of fact. Once is certainly not appealing, but twice just makes it that much worse.

Anyway, the point was I had been at Shibuya Station. So then why were there white walls and...

And then it hit me. The hospital.

'Ni-san? Are you okay?'

I blinked up at Kouji, who had abandoned whatever he had been doing and was by my side by the time it took for me to figure out my general bearings, before struggling into a sitting position, only succeeding after a few minutes when my twin helped me up.

'My head hurts,' I replied, knowing well that he would see through a lie in an instant with my mind as fuzzy as it was then. 'But otherwise, I'm fine.'

'That's a relief,' Kouji sighed, slumping almost bonelessly into a vacant chair as the others swarmed around me, save Takuya. For a moment, I wondered why those two excluded themselves from the group hug, but it hit me soon enough, and if I was in a better condition, it would have hit me far sooner.

Guilt.

I quickly muttered a reply to Tomoki, before whispering a request into Izumi's ears, knowing that she, at least, understood even if the other two did not. Indeed, she did, and in a minute or to, had disappeared with Junpei and Tomoki to inform my parents (or my mother and Kouji's parents-whichever way you want to take it), leaving Takuya, Kouji and I in the hospital room alone.

No-body said anything for awhile; each person was waiting for another to speak. Kouji and Takuya exchanged glances, before shifting their gaze elsewhere, and I just stared from one to another to the first again.

After a while, I sighed, seeing as neither of the two seemed to be saying something any time soon. Normally, I don't start the conversation, but that was a special case. Besides, with Takuya especially, this was not normal behaviour.

So I said the first random thing which popped into my mind. 'That's the second I've fallen down the stairs partially because of you 'touto-san,' I said good-naturedly, though my throat was dry so it came out as more of a rasp.

Thinking back, that wasn't exactly the brightest thing I had ever said, but it at least did its job and kick-started the conversation.

Though not in the way I had wanted, as he turned his head away in guilt.

I knew how he felt. How I had felt when the influence of the tainted spirits of darkness had been purged from me, when I had been freed from Cherubimon's influence to see all the pain and suffering I had caused. When he had been the victim searching for his remuneration in the way of knowledge while I had been the one downing in my guilt, and Takuya had watched on.

My eyes met his for a moment, and I could see he felt just as guilty, though he didn't show it to that extent. For a moment, he held my gaze, his brown eyes searching my own for some sort of sign, before he offered a hand to me.

'Gomen nasai,' he said, in a tone slightly softer than normal, yet as strong and firm as it had ever been. 'Forgive me?'

'Of course.' The brunette reached out and grasped the hand that lay outside the coverlets, considering as I didn't have the energy to grasp it myself, and he had seen that.

Kouji still hadn't moved from his position, and I found myself wishing, not for the first time, that I had Takuya's courage. Only later Kouji told me he had been wishing the same thing. That wasn't so far off though, as the bond between them, now fortified stronger than ever, could go so much further than what it was capable of before, as the restraints they themselves had built held them back.

I turned back to Takuya, which what I presumed, and hoped, was an inquisitive look on my face.

The addressed brunette looked, understandably, a bit uncomfortable, seeing as though I had put him on the spot, but he nonetheless proceeded to explain what had happened during the time I had been unconsciousness.

And then he had to repeat it all, because the first time round, all that had registered was the first phrase, the rest having been borne on deaf ears.

'Well, you were unconscious for one and a half weeks...'

* * *

I was out of the hospital a week later, with orders not to over-exert myself. That unfortunately meant another few days of bed rest, at home this time, and another week off from school, so I had a lot of work to catch up on when I finally got back after nearly a month absence. Kouji and I had finally talked, with a little more help from Izumi, Tomoki and Junpei's collaborative effort, and while the conversation had wound up scraping several uncomfortable boundaries, everything had been settled.

And while Takuya and Kouji still fought occasionally, it was by far and in between, and more playful, after the initial awkwardness in which they struggled to remain cordial to one another to the extent they were unable to maintain their current friendship brushed over by the sheer unease of it all...a rather amusing story to hear as it occurred while I was unconscious. After all, they friendship was based on the similarities bound by their differences, and every time they disagreed, their reconciliations brought them closer together.

But they compromised, and we were all content. The discomfort brought on by their too frequent squabbles was gone, which left other minds free to think about matters involving one or the other without the dreary cloud hovering over them.

The cloud that had found its silver lining.

...speaking of, Izumi eventually did accept Takuya's request for a date...after Kouji had to endure an earbashing from the said female.

As for the anniversary, we wound up making up for it the day before I was to return to school again. Which is why Kouji, Takuya and I were on our way to the stairs again, since the elevators were still out of order.

'Ni-san?'

'Hai?'

'You wouldn't happen to be planning something, would you?'

Kouji's voice had a slightly suspicious tone to it. Rightly so, as I was grinning, rather mischievously too (you'll see why in a minute or so).

'Iie...why would you say that 'touto-san?'

It was Takuya who answered. 'You have one weird look on your face.'

I laughed a bit awkwardly at that. It was rather difficult to hide, or evade. Even if I knew exactly what they were thinking, and was purposely leading them along.

...aren't I allowed to play a little prank on my little brother and his best friend?

Even if I am older by two minutes...though our birthdays are on two separate days.

But that's beside the point.

At the top of the stairs came the awkward part: the fact that none of us wanted to go down them. Kouji and Takuya didn't because they thought I was going to push them down or something similar, though I only found out for sure a few minutes later, and I didn't because...well, I'd think it's rather obvious.

...I think I've developed climacophobia after two near deaths on the same stairs.

If only those stairs didn't exist, or had railings to grip...

Anyway, after about five minutes, we were yet to move, and Tomoki, Junpei and Izumi stared up at us from the bottom floor, though they didn't say anything.

Though the next minute, they were beside us, and I felt Tomoki's small hand slip into my tighter fingers as he led me slowly and carefully down.

'See Kouichi,' he grinned up at me, in his innocent way. 'Nothing to be scared of.'

I grinned back, despite the unease. After all, the worst phobia can be banished in the end, with time, patience, and most importantly: friendship.

Then the mischievous grin came back about ten minutes later (or longer, I can't really remember) after we found ourselves in the basement where the Trailmon had taken the others to the Digital World and I had caught up with what I had missed.

'You know,' my twin's voice mumbled near my shoulder. 'I could have sworn you were going to do something.'

I laughed at that, the earlier fear easily banished with the joy of remembrance which hung over us, even as snippets of other conversations reached us.

Then I was laughing again, but only because Takuya had somehow tripped over something and fallen onto Kouji, succeeding in knocking them both to the floor.

'I didn't do anything,' I said immediately afterwards. Which I hadn't really. Takuya just happened to trip at that moment, despite how unbelievable that sounded.

Who knows, perhaps it was karma. Or something of the likes.

The other three were laughing too. After all, it wasn't everyday you saw the two most famous boys in the neighbourhood sprawled on the ground in a compromising position like that, considering my poor brother was sandwiched under his best friend.

And when the laugher finally slowed to a stop, Kouji managed to extract himself from under the brunette, his face as red as the other's jacket, and face.

'It's not funny guys,' he muttered, thoroughly embarrassed, despite the fact that there was only the four of us to see.

And then the four of us were chortling again, the laughter masking their simultaneous exclamations of both embarrassment and indignation.

* * *

**Post Author's Notes:**

And that finishes it up. Just thought I'd add a bit of humour at the end there. And if you want to know what Kouichi was grinning about, he was planning to trip one or the other anyway, fate just beat him to it.

The fic I planned to start after completing this was **Immortal**, which is the sequel to In **Memoriam...** (summary and explanation are in the post Author's Note of In Memoriam...) However I was also planning on starting another story, **The Bonds of Friendship** after completing **Brother, Hear Me Cry**, so the two should be up soon. _Hopefully_ some time next month. Emphasis on the _hopefully_ there, since I think all the internals are due in next month too, which means we're going to be overflooded with schoolwork.

The Bonds of Friendship actually works on an idea branching out from this story, as in what if the teams differences caused them to go too far with one another and the bonds of friendship to break (with a little help of course). Kouichi, being the new addition, isn't as affected as the others, so the onus falls on him to bring them back together, while he gets the honour of leading a new team with the other four Legendary Warriors, and the dishonour of something else...

Anyway, I'll just leave the summary here for you all to enjoy till then.

**The Bonds of Friendship**

Post frontier. They were so close; no one ever imagined those bonds would break. Least of all him. But they do, and with the fate of two worlds at the balance, he is forced to take drastic measures to fix them...and pay the price.

Kouichi K

Genre/s: Friendship/Angst

Anyway, till next time everyone.


End file.
